Handheld mobile communication device (hereinafter referred to as mobile device or device) design is the subject to two competing interests. Users of these mobile devices have shown a distinct preference for smaller devices, which has driven the industry to attempt to reduce the size of a typical mobile device. Users have also shown a preference for mobile devices that offer many services in addition to standard voice telephony based services. These services tend to be data driven, and include short messaging service (SMS) based messaging, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) data services, and 1X Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based data services. These services are inconvenient to use on a standard mobile device, as requesting or creating data through text entry on a standard device keypad is difficult, and viewing the received data is inconvenient on the small screens of conventional mobile devices. Thus users are demanding both smaller devices and devices with larger screens and more intuitive input devices than conventional mobile devices.
It should be noted that in the following description references are made to keypads and keyboards being auxiliary inputs.
Mobile devices tend to become larger and bulkier with the addition of auxiliary inputs such as keyboards and larger displays. However, the addition of such auxiliary inputs provides distinct usability advantages for handling and creating SMS messages and other data services. For this reason, auxiliary inputs are desirable. As a result, solutions have been offered that attempt to satisfy both the desire for larger screens and input devices and the desire for a smaller form factor for the device. One solution to this problem provides detachable keyboards that can be removed from the mobile device when they are not needed. These keyboards can connect to the mobile device using either a wireless or a wired link. Typically the wireless connections are achieved through either infrared or Bluetooth™ communications channels. These additional keyboards are not an ideal solution, as they require the user to carry an additional piece of equipment, which can be easily lost or misplaced.
To provide smaller mobile devices, several manufacturers provide clamshell mobile devices that have open and closed positions. In the closed position, the devices are compact, and protect both the screen and the keypad from inadvertent contact, while in an open position these devices provide access to the keypad and a display and allow the user to talk with another party. Clamshell devices require a second display if the user wishes to view information about incoming calls while the device is closed. Additionally these devices do not tend to offer auxiliary inputs that are suited to data entry.
Due to the demand for smaller devices, screens and keypad must either be miniaturised or repositioned to reduce device size. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a device with a small form factor, whose reduced size does not impair the usability of the screen or the input.